Interweave Knits Lace Nightie-modified

You can't go wrong with cashmere! After I bound off the back stitches I decided to slip this on to see how it was going to fit. I realized there was no way this was going to fit over my hips like a nightie should. I also realized there was no way I was going to frog and reknit it in a larger size. So I decided it would make a very cute tank. I really did not take note of my mods but if I remember correctly I added an extra pattern repeat before the waist shaping. I also added a few more waist decreases. I am thinking there is a problem with the measurement in the schematic, because there is no way with a gauge of 6 sts per inch that you can decrease 8 sts and lose 3.75 inches...so beware if you are planning to knit this. On the Upper Back and Front portion I put the pattern aside, instead of following the pattern I BO 1 at the beginning of each row until I had 68 sts on the needle then BO all sts. As soon as I read the pattern I knew there was no way in hell I was knitting all that i-cord for the straps. Instead I bought some lace and backed it with satin ribbon then sewed them on making sure to place them where they would cover my bra straps.
All the pictures were taken by The Boy Wonder- against his will...

Pattern: Interweave Knits Lace Nightie

Size: Small (29")

Yarn: 4 ply cashmere from PlumKnits, 2 skeins, 200 yds per skein. I did have a little egg sized ball of yarn leftover.

Needles: US5 circs

Add this to my list of favorite knits! The pattern was easy to follow and the cashmere was a dream to knit with.

summer knitting is slow knitting

Now that it is officially summer my knitting motivation has decided to go on vacation. I guess all knitters go through it, but I feel disconnected and do not know what to do with myself. I sit down to knit, maybe finish a few rows then get distracted. At a snail's pace I have finished the first 12" square for each of The Super Twins blankets. Their Mom ended up not being able to have the procedure I mentioned in my last post due to her placenta being in the wrong position. Unless the placenta shifts by her next visit to Philly she will more than likely have to end the life of one twin to save the other or risk losing them both. So still I knit as there is nothing else I can do. I mean what can I possibly say to make her feel better or to make her decision easier? Not a damn thing. I also finally finished the Interweave lace nightie today. I made quite a few mods to it, but I will talk about those tomorrow after it is finished blocking and I can take some pictures.

I am participating in a Roving Swap over at Craftster.org and received 100% cotton roving. I can not for the life of me spin it...it kinda feels like I am trying to spin dryer lint. I am the type of person that prefers to be good at something or not do it at all and I am not good at spinning this cotton. So anyone have any tips?

FO where art thou?

All my projects seem to just languish on the needles these days. I still knit everyday, but it seems as if nothing is really getting finished. Last week I dyed some corridale roving and spun it. I used old egg dye tablets and although the colors did turn out nice they were not at all what I had in mind. One of the blue tablets I used seems to have broken down into blue and purple which I thought was odd. All told I ended up with 146 yds, singles.
I also started Babette for the Super Twins and promptly realized that I suck at crochet and I do not understand the written instructions for crochet. I then realized that I could do a little log cabin action and knit a version of Babette instead. Here is the beginnings of the first square....
So far it is 10" so I have quite a few more rounds until this one is the 12" it needs to be. Update on the Super Twins-20 weeks gestation...their Mom (my best friend since 7th grade) has to travel to Philly (from NC) on Monday to have fetoscopic laser photo coagulation performed to separate the twins blood supply (an overall survival of 67 percent can be anticipated with 80 percent of pregnancies having at least one survivor.) She is freaked out since she has never been in the hospital and the lives and health of one or both of her twins are at stake. If this does not work there is nothing else that can be done. Please, please, please remember her in your prayers especially on Tuesday when she will be in surgery. I just feel sick about the entire situation. I do not know what to say when I talk to her...so I listen and knit and hold back the tears until we are off the phone, then I totally lose it. It is just so fucking unfair- she has had more than her fair share of heartache and disappointment throughout her life. I just hope she is strong enough to get through this.

unexpected motivation

When I first logged on to Ravelry I was really expecting to spend hours just looking around, drooling all over what others have made.

Then I realized...

• the real fun was in entering my own projects and see who was making the same things.
• it was frustrating to see someone mention a project but not have a picture of it.
• I should upload some photos of my own before I started getting all uppity about someone else.
• I would actually have to take the time to learn how to use my Flick'r account.
• the hours of my "free time" I am going to lose to Flick'r.

I did not think that Ravelry would inspire me to clean up my blog appearance and knowledge. I have learned so much in the past few days, like

• how to blog from Flick'r (that is where the cute baby in the hat post came from).
• how to change my blog header the quick and easy way (I managed to do it the hard way last time).
• how to put a Flick'r box in my sidebar.
• what the hell a feed was and why I need ways to subscribe.
• I am not as smart as I thought I was.

Next up is tagging...

• my past blog posts
• my Flick'r photos
• my Ravelry projects

I ordered yarn to start the babette twin blankets in the following colors: Black, Truffle, Coast Grey, Sand Dune, Sunshine, Aloe, Dublin, Jade, Baby Blue, Capri, Deep Ocean, Dark Navy, Copper, Light Coral, Red Pepper and Fired Brick.

pinkkibluebell1

pinkkibluebell1
Originally uploaded by villapallo

This is the cutest baby hat ever!

Ravelry....mmm-mmm good

Oh joy and happiness! I finally got an invite to Ravelry and I must say it is as good as everyone says! I predict many of my spare hours (and quite a few hours that I should be doing little things like cooking and cleaning) will be spent on that site. I am trying to decide if I want to log all my past projects or just start from where I am now. Decisions. Decisions.

Look for me on there as AuntieAmanda.

speechless

My friend that is expecting twins found out she is having identical boys.
They have Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome.
She is about 18 weeks along and is understandably freaked out.

I have been thinking about what kind of not so matchy, blankets that match when I saw this.
It is perfect, Baby babettes. The crochet will be quick and painless-it's the seaming that is going to get me. But it is cleverly constructed so it should be interesting. Now for the math and the yarn search to transform it into a baby version.

As for Fish a Day in May, I actually managed to knit a fish a day, every day for thirty one days.

Long time, no see!

I have been a very lazy blogger lately, but I have been knitting and spinning! I finished the first skein of the lace nightie for the KAL and it has sat on the needles for days because I was dreading winding the second skein of cashmere after I made such a mess of the first one. Last night I got the bright idea to make a swift out of Knex. I saw one on Craftster, but it was way more complicated than I thought I could make. This little baby worked like a charm! The Boy Wonder even told me I could keep all the Knex I used for it, which I thought was pretty sweet of him considering how much he enjoys playing with them.

Here are the two yarns I spun these past few weeks.... The first is 146 yds of wool (both were bonus fibers with other purchases so I do not know the type) Brown and black plied.

Here is another food color dyed roving... I was surprised how it spun up and very happy with the end results (102 yds)! The Girl Wonder and I each dyed roving and then she wanted me to teach her how to spin on the spinning wheel. She was very frustrated to start, but with a bit of practice and a lot of pre drafting she was spinning like a pro!